Delivery apparatus.



E. T. VON KNOPKE. DELIVERY APPARATUS.

APPLIOATION FILED JAN.25, 1909.

938,062. Patented 0011.26 1909.

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lllllW m mmm Bimini 1071 Knopkz UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EDWARD '1. VON KNOIPKE, OF GREENSBORO, NORTH CAROLINA.

DELIVERY APPARATUS.

Application filed. January 25, 1909.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ED ARD T. VON KNorKn, a citizen of the United States, residing at Greensboro, in the county of Guilford and State of Northv Carolina, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Delivery Apparatus, of which the following is a specification.

This invention contemplates certain new and useful improvements in delivery cabinets, and relates more particularly to that class of apparatus designed for vending postage stamps and the like.

The object of the invention is to facilitate the handling and selling of stamps, and the like, in post offices and other places where such articles are sold, by providing a simple and inexpensive cabinet by means of which any desired number of stamps may be read ily counted off and detached from a strip or web mounted on a suitable roll within the cabinet.

A further object is to provide simple and improved means for returning the actuating parts to their normal positions after each operation of the device.

The invention will be hereinafter fully set forth and particularly pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawing :Figure 1 is a plan view illustrating my improved delivery cabinet. Fig. 2 is a front end view thereof. Fig. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view on line 3-3, Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is a vertical section on line 14, Fig. 1.

Referring to the drawing, 10 designates a cabinet or casing provided with a base 11, the sides of said casing being formed with chambers 12 and 13. The rear end of the cabinet or casing is provided with diagonal slots 14 which are arranged to receive the shaft 15 of a roll 16 upon which the stamps (indicated at 17) are carried. The exterior walls of chambers 12 and 13 are arranged to support the ends of a rotatable shaft 18 upon which is loosely mounted a delivery roll 19 which coacts with a smaller roll 20 to feed the strip of stamps forward through the outlet opening 21. The rolls 19 and 20 may be of any suitable material but I prefer to form them of hard rubber with a slightly roughened circumference. To one side of the roll 19 is secured a ratchet wheel 22 provided with any suitable number of teeth Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 26, 1909.

Serial No. 474,092.

preferably ten, and secured to the shaft 18 is a register disk 23 which is numbered from one to ten, to correspond with the teeth of said ratchet wheel. Said disk 23 is located in chamber 13 and the latter is provided with an opening 24 through which the uppermost number on the disk may be seen. The shaft 18 is rotated by means of a suitable handle 25 and is provided with a pawl 26 arranged to engage the teeth of the ratchet wheel 22 to rotate roll 19. A spring 27 is located in chamber 12 and connected with shaft 18, in such. manner as to rotate the latter in a reverse direction when the handle 25 is released, a stop 28 being provided to limit this reverse movement.

In practice the roll 16 containing the stamps is placed in position, and the end of the strip 17 is passed between the rolls 19 and 20 so that the first stamp will appear at the outlet opening 21. The disk 23 will then display a zero through the opening 24. When it is desired to deliver any number of stamps, for instance five, the handle 25 is moved to rotate shaft 18 in a direction to bring the desired number on disk 23 opposite opening 24. The circumference of the roll 19 is so proportioned that the maximum number of stamps delivered by it will be the maximum number contained on disk 23. When the shaft 18 is rotated to deliver the stamps the pawl 26 engages the ratchet wheel 22 and rotates the roll 19 with said shaft until the desired number of stamps have been projected through the opening 21, whereupon the protruding stamps are detached. Upon releasing the handle the spring 27 will return the shaft to its normal position, the pawl sliding over the ratchet teeth, the stop 28 arresting the reverse movement of the shaft as soon as the latter has reached the zero position.

' If desired a light spring 29 may be placed in engagement with roll 16 to retard the movement of the latter, and a pawl 30 may also be provided to prevent reverse rotation of the roll 19.

It will be understood that I do not desire to limit myself to the precise construction illustrated and described, and that a register may be attached to the machine to show the number of stamps extracted, or a plurality or battery of the machines may be supported upon a single platform and em V ployed to deliver stamps of different classes,

, and provided with a ratchet wheel, a dial mounted on said shaft and provided with numbers corresponding with the teeth of said ratchet wheel, a pawl on said shaft arranged to engage said ratchet to rotate said roll in one direction, means for rotating said shaft in a reverse direction, and means for limiting the reverse movement of said shaft.

2. A delivery apparatus comprising a casing provided with offset chambers, a carrying roll 'mounted in said casing, a rotatable shaft having its ends supported by the walls of said chambers, a delivery roll loosely mounted on said shaft, means whereby said shaft will rotate said delivery roll in one direction, a spring in one of said chambers for rotating said shaft in a reverse direction, means for limiting the reverse movement of said shaft, and a numbered dial mounted on said shaft and located in the remaining offset chamber of said casing.

In testimony whereof I affiX my signature, in presence of two witnesses.

EDWARD T. VON KNOPKE. l/Vitnesses:

THOS. C. HoYLE, SIDNEY S. ALDERMAN. 

